Dr Bonjour Bay: Theological Position of Charismatic Renewal Part 1.3

|PIC1|1.3 - Theological Position of Charismatic Renewal

As I mentioned above, the Charismatic Renewal movement is differ from the traditional Pentecostal movement and from the Third Wave as well in the theological characteristics. Then, I will classify what the differences of Charismatic Renewal movement are.

1) Time of Spirit Baptism
Those who follow the Classical Pentecostalism put stress on the experience of Spirit Baptism after conversion. They maintain that whoever have received Spirit Baptism show the sign of the spiritual gifts. And they stress the importance of holy life more than the Charismatics do. Because, the first generation of the Pentecostal movement mainly came from the 19th-century holiness movement, on the contrary, the first generation of Charismatic Renewal movement have the believers who confess the diverse faith in their own denominational background.

Charismatic Renewal movement and the Third Wave are weaker than the traditional Pentecostalism in their focusing of division between conversion and Spirit Baptism; some of them regard the Spirit Baptism as the regeneration itself rather than the Second Blessing (1 Cor. 12:13). In generally, they prefer the term 'being filled with the Holy Spirit' rather than the Spirit Baptism itself.

Peter Wagner, the well-known advocate of the Third Wave, distinguished the Third Wave from the classical pentecostalism and from the charismatic renewal. He thought that Baptism with the Holy Spirit was mostly considered as the another aspect of regeneration, and that ongoing experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit made a person consecrated Christian. And he also did not accent the glossolalia as the accurate sign of receiving Spirit Baptism.

2) Glossolalia
The classical Pentecostals stress the glossolalia as the first sign of being baptized with the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, most of Charismatics are differ from the traditional Pentecostals who regard the glossolalia as the sign of Spirit Baptism.

Glossolalia fails to define the movement adequately in such a way as to distinguish it fully from other religious movements. Until the recent appearance of the Charismatic movement or Neo-Pentecostalism within the traditional churches, such a definition served reasonably well to distinguish the Pentecostal churches from other Christian churches. 'Pentecostal' churches were those whose members 'spoke in tongues'. But the practice of glossolalia is actually a common religious phenomenon occurring in a great variety of contexts.

Concerning the experience of Spirit Baptism, unlike the Pentecostals, most of Charismatics don't stress the initiative utterance of glossolalia. Rather, they more stress the importance of miracles and wonders and power encounter than glossolalia. They regard glossolalia as one of the gifts of Holy Spirit that serve for the spiritual ministry and effective prayer.

3) Evangelism
Charismatics seem weaker than Classical Pentecostalism in their missionary motivation. They prefer inviting Christians to the experience of Holy Spirit rather than going toward the gentiles and unbelievers.

But, the Third Wave stress the importance of power evangelism and power encounter more. Casting out demons, healing the diseases, demonstrating the miraculous power of Holy Spirit are the very importance ministries in this movement. Vineyard Theology, as one aspect of the Third Wave, was expanded widely by the teaching of Peter Wagner and John Wimber, and also depended on the New Testament teaching of George Eldon Ladd at Fuller Theological Seminary. Ladd interpreted the Kingdom of God as the real presence of God's power which overcome the Satanic power. At this point, the stress of Vineyard Movement, namely, power encounter or power evangelism has place in the theological and biblical basis.

4) Participants
It is undeniable that charismatic renewal, at least in the First World, has made most progress in the white-middle class sectors of society, whereas the Pentecostal Movement in its beginning was largely a proletarian phenomenon among poor people of all colors. However, Charismatic Renewal has from the late 1970s made great progress among the churches of the Third World, most dramatically perhaps in Asia, where it is clearly not the preserve of the middle classes.

Healing has become as prominent a ministry among charismatics as among Pentecostals, although the patterns of healing ministry show obvious contrasts. Whereas physical healing with demonstrative styles of ministry has been more emphasized among Pentecostals, inner healing with a focus on the healing of emotions has characterized many charismatic ministries. This contrast reflects differences in social background and theology. Awareness of mental states is more characteristic of middle-class milieu than of working-class people, and the theology of many charismatics is more sympathetic than that of many Pentecostals.
The area of theology manifests another obvious contrast between Pentecostals and charismatics, especially those from Christian traditions with a rich theological inheritance, whether Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Reformed, or Puritan.

Charismatic Renewal had more sense of the corporate work of the Holy Spirit than classical Pentecostalism. The widespread conviction that Charismatic Renewal is for the renewal of the church recognizes that the coming of the Holy Spirit creates koinonia in the body of Christ. This conviction appears to have been strongest among charismatics in the sacramental-liturgical traditions.

They, however, don't think emigration to the Pentecostal denomination in spite of their experiencing the spiritual gifts. In his explanation about the Third Wave, Peter Wagner said that main-line evangelicals had experienced the gifts of Holy Spirit without the influence of Pentecostals and Charismatics. Rather, they put stress on the church renewal which is based on the practical use of gifts.

Dr Bonjour Bay

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Dr Bonjour Bay is a Researcher in Spiritual Movement, and is the Church History Professor at Sungkyul University, South Korea. Dr Bay has published numerous books on Church History and Pneumatology.

'Charismatic Renewal and Its Inter-Denominational Dialogue' is a six-part series to be published by Christian Today, of which this piece is the second.

Please view the first here: Part 1.1

Please view the second here: Part 1.2